James Francis Purtell
James Francis Purtell was a lay teacher who worked at schools in the Diocese of Syracuse. He has been accused in multiple civil lawsuits of sexually abusing multiple minors while working at St. John the Evangelist School in Binghamton in the 1970s and Seton Catholic Central School in Binghamton in the 1980s and 1990s. One lawsuit alleges that Purtell sexually abused a minor student at St. John the Evangelist and Seton Catholic Central School in approximately 1977 to 1982 when the survivor was approximately 13 to 18 years old. Another lawsuit alleges that Purtell sexually abused a minor student at St. John the Evangelist and Seton Catholic Central School in approximately 1979 to 1984 when the survivor was approximately 13 to 18 years old. Purtell is believed to have left Seton Catholic Central School in the mid-1990s. He is believed to be residing in Binghamton and his degree of access to minors is unknown.